The hopeless dream of being—not seeming, but being.

Badge System Design: seven ways of looking at a badge system

Badge system design can be considered in a variety of ways. I tried to come up with thirteen ways to discuss them so I could write a poem riffing on one of my favorite poems, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird (Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Badge System) but I’ve had to settle for seven eight (see addendum below).

Below you’ll find the seven different possible categorizations listed with a few representations of each type of thinking. This is not an exhaustive list by any means: it’s simply an opportunity to unpack our influences and perceptions as we begin the process of designing badge systems.

The methods outlined below include philosophical, conceptual, pedagogical, visual (aesthetic), technical, categorical, and ownership. The last one, ownership, feels a bit odd because it’s not quite parallel to the rest of the bunch. I like a system that has a nice balance and this one has a slight imbalance. Happily, this slightly odd fit serves to emphasize the importance of allowing for an outlier. The outlier will cause you to reconsider your system every time—and that’s a good thing. The outlier is the thing that keeps your badge system honest, keeps it moving and evolving. Because if you’re designing a system so as to keep everyone within a certain range, you’re trying too hard. And you’re deep in the midst of a lush forest.

In any case, I’m curious to hear your reaction to these potential sorting efforts. No doubt these groupings can intermixed and most certainly they can be layered, possibly interleaved with one another.

philosophical

representation: understood vs. hidden

social acceptance vs. formal acceptance

intellectual property vs. copyright free

cognitive surplus vs. waste of time

extrinsic vs. intrinsic

carrot vs. stick

top down vs. bottom up

conceptual

possession

systems design vs. emergence

corporate vs. academic

amateur vs. professional

rhythmic vs. erratic

pedagogical

education vs. learning

assessment

teaching vs. perceiving/absorbing/

injection vs. osmosis

project based vs standards based

expert-taught vs. peer learned & assessed

visual/aesthetic

representational vs. abstract

categorical vs. individual

technical

siloed vs. shared

open vs. proprietary

system vs. single

categorical

formalized vs. free for all

few categories vs. many

ownership

organizational vs. personal

owned vs. shared

Are there additional ways to consider the design of badge systems? Do any of these seem innate? Far-fetched? What do we gain by sorting through systems in this way? I continue working on questions like these and look for your feedback (which, according to Donella Meadows, is a good way to ensure that your system is running smoothly).

3 thoughts on “Badge System Design: seven ways of looking at a badge system”

I can imagine companies and departments earning badges with the help of their employees and this joint effort helping to foster a sense of involvement and commitment. I can also picture a system that links badges and recommendations. For example, a person might have earned a Customer Service badge and have examples of recommendations/testimonials linked to that badge.

I would imagine that breaking it down into categories like this would be helpful in making sure that the subject was looked at from all angles or at least no obvious angles were missed.